Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Limits: Like Cancer, the NSA Has None

The worthless wankers in Congress -- in the House anyway -- sided withe the president: they voted to allow the NSA to keep collecting whatever data it wants, whenever it wants, however it wants, as much as it wants, for as long as it wants.

Predictable.

Predictable.

Gen. Keith Alexander convened a private, secret, closed-door session at the last minute yesterday, no doubt telling the reps that The Terrorists Are Everywhere™ and that, therefore, they have to allow the NSA to continue collecting info on all of us. Because all of us, in case you haven't figured it out by now, are potential terrorists.

The puppet show that is the United States of America continues to give performances. Its signature role is that of a "free country." Hey, it's bad acting, but most people don't mind. They're looking for an action flick, and with Seal Team 6 fresh in their minds, they're happy to hang on, hoping for a repeat. The fact that they might be the object of the next thrilling raid doesn't occur to them. After all, If You Haven't Done Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing To Worry About.

Bombazine

I chose the name because of the fashion reference and the inherent play on words -- "bomb" as in "you're the bomb," "that dress is the bomb," and "zine" referring to the independent publications of yesteryear. Since I write about politics, fashion, art, design, beauty, etc., I thought "bombazine" was the perfect name.

The fact that "bomb" is also a trigger word for our DHS/NSA overlords is icing on the cake.

In addition to doing original writing, I also re-publish other things that I think are worthwhile, with, of course, full attribution to the authors. I don't think I write deathless prose; therefore, I have no problem calling attention to the prose of others. I realize this is anathema to some in the blabbosphere (who apparently think they do write deathless prose). Tough shit.

Sorry, this blog doesn't accept comments. I don't have time to wade through spammers, plants, and trolls, not to mention pearl-clutching Pollyannas who go into cardiac arrest over naughty words. This is an adult blog that discusses adult topics. If you're offended by language -- or ideas -- this isn't the place for you.

"So, the Occupy movements have leaders now? Weren't the righties bitching yesterday that it was a leaderless rabble? Which is it? Leaderless rabble or deluded sheeple under the tyrannic sway of NPR opera critics?"10/20/11, 1:22pm -cletör

"What better way to enslave a man than to give him the vote and tell him he’s free." -Albert Camus

The Republicans are leading us on the road to ruin, and the Democrats distinguish themselves by proposing to take the scenic route.

"Once effectively dehumanized, and hence cancelled as potential subjects of moral demands, human objects of bureaucratic task-performance are viewed with ethical indifference, which soon turns into disapprobation and censure when their resistance, or lack of co-operation, slows down the smooth flow of bureaucratic routine." -Zygmunt Bauman,The Social Dynamics of Fascism

“Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government. Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual, and putting terror in every heart.” -Justice Robert. H. Jackson, Chief U.S. prosecutor, Nuremberg Trials, 1949

"Meh, Nuremberg, Schmuremberg."-United Sheeple of America

"The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others. Such a man, the world says, may lie down until he has sense enough to stand up . . .

"If there is no struggle there is no progress . . . This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress."

-Frederick Douglass, 1857

"Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution."-Article 14, UN Declaration of Human Rights

"Any imbecile can squeeze a trigger, set fire to a fuse, kill two men and even a tyrant. And then what? What changes? When one tyrant dies, they create another, and often the future tyrants are the very ones who fired the shot. No, it isn’t by strewing corpses about that you make the world a little more bearable. It’s with ideas! The real bombs are ideas." -Alexandros Panagoulis, as quoted by Oriana Fallaci in A Man

"Politeness is wasted on the dishonest, who will always take advantage of any well-intended concession." -American journalist Barrett Brown, persecuted, prosecuted, and jailed for speech

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war. That is understood.

"But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."